They may play characters from the early 1900s, but the cast members of “Downton Abbey” might as well be rock stars.

Riding a wave of Emmy euphoria, several principles from the wildly popular British drama — including newcomer Shirley MacLaine — were given a rousing reception Saturday night during the PBS portion of TV’s summer press tour and presided over a lively and lighthearted session.

Earlier in the week, “Downton Abbey” was showered with 16 Emmy nominations, including nods for top drama series, and lead actor and actress (Hugh Bonneville and Michelle Dockery).

So what does the cast think about all the attention?

“We’re gobsmacked,” said Bonneville, who plays Lord Crawley. “… To have the show embraced so wholeheartedly from America is a great thrill for all of us.”

And more thrills are apparently on the way. “Downton” returns for Season 3 on Jan. 6 with a high-profile addition in MacLaine, who plays the mother of Cora Crawley (Elizabeth McGovern).

“I had a fabulous time and I shall never forget it,” MacLaine said of her time on the “Downton” set in England.

Journalists at the press tour were treated to an extensive Season 3 preview reel, which hinted at the possibility of financial ruin for the Crawley family, revealed more tension between Lady Mary and Matthew (Dan Stevens), showed a scene of Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle) in jail and included talk of a wedding — though it didn’t reveal who would be getting hitched.

The preview also featured scenes of the highly anticipated meeting between Dowager Countess of Grantham (Maggie Smith) and MacLaine’s character, Martha Levinson.

MacLaine, who had the reporters cracking up throughout the media conference, was asked if she has ever met Smith before.

“Well, we were lovers in another life,” she joked.

Actually, MacLaine said Smith reminded her that the two had met years ago backstage at the Oscars, where MacLaine had been nominated, but lost, and was eyeing a big cake as solace. Smith told her that MacLaine dug into the cake and blurted, “(Bleep) it. I don’t care if I’m ever thin again.”

The “Downton” regulars reflected on a season that brought them worldwide fame, and joked about all the parodies and pop-cultural spin-offs the show inspired. As for that Internet quiz that identifies what characters its participants would be, Coyle says he took a shot at it.

“I’m Lady Mary and I’m really happy about it,” he said with a sly smile.

The fun continued right up to the end of the session when Bonneville jumped out of his chair and unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with a two-word plea in bold letters:

Team Ninja and Tecmo offered tidbits on the Tag Mode forDead or Alive 5. Mostly, it’s the fact that it does return and there will be team combo throws. It’s about par for the series.

The developer also revealed two returning characters to the game Jann Lee, who specializes in Jeet Kune Do, and Tina, one of the many buxom fighters that the game is known for. Her preferred fighting style is professional wrestling. The screenshots they sent over also shows off a new stage called the Fighting Entertainment! It’s wrestling themed.

Anyway, click the jump for more screenshots. BTW, Jann and Tina do look good in the new artistic approach that Team Ninja is taking.

Eutechnyx’s first stab at a NASCAR title was adequate. It filled a need in the genre after EA stopped producing proper entries for the motorsport in 2008. NASCAR The Game: 2011 featured the tracks and drivers that fans were expecting, but the problem was that it was bare bones. It was a paint-by-numbers racer with the minimum of features. It had a season and multiplayer modes and that was it.

On its second effort, NASCAR The Game: Inside Line appears to be the gaming that fans have been waiting for. I spoke with Ed Martin, an executive vice president of Eutechnyx, about the latest entry and he said the team focused on three things: multiplayer, career mode and challenges.

The improvements to each part of the racer is shaping up to be a step above last year’s entry. When it comes to multiplayer, Martin admits, “It wasn’t ready for prime time. It wasn’t robust.” This year, they plan on giving players a full 43-car field and the same experiences as the career mode.

The game just holds so much promise with the idea of playing and creating 2D platforming levels, where music plays a central role to its structure. I always wondered how Sound Shapes would do in the hands of, not a developer, but a musician. Sure, they would come at it from a different perspective and different sound, but how would it play?

Well, judging by these screens, it’s setting up to look gorgeous. Sony already announced that there will be tracks-levels using the music of deadmau5, Jim Guthrie and I Am Robot. Now, Sony and the team at Queasy Games is adding Beck to the mix. His music will be featured in a campaign/record called “Cities.”

It feels like I’m in a time warp, seeing the Terminator-ish skull logo of Stone Cold Steve Austin again. It’s a throwback to the whole Attitude Era of the WWE. It’s the period when Degeneration X, Mankind and the Rock came up amid plenty of soap opera absurdities. I was more of a 1980s-era guy but I can respect what the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin did. It seems THQ liked the Attitude Era, too, and decided to create aWWE 13 Austin 3:16 Collector’s Edition. It will focus on one of the most well-known wrestlers of his generation.

The Austin 3:16 edition, which is pictured above, will include:

1) A special package featuring the aforementioned Terminator-ish skull
2) Collectible Art card autographed by Stone Cold Steve Austin. (I wonder if it’s really autographed or just one of those fake signature thingies.)
3) In-game Stone Cold Steve Austin T-shirt
4) A Stone Cold Steve Austin special in-game entrance with an ATV
5) A “Stone Code Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time” Blu-Ray/DVD. Wow that’s a crazy long title.
6) A copy of WWE 13, of course
7) Access to the Mike Tyson preorder DLC

The package will cost $79.99, which sounds like a decent deal, given the extra content and Blu-ray. It’s set for release Oct. 30.

1) A custom-designed Xbox 360 console (latest edition) that has a blue light instead of the normal green
2) Two exclusive controllers with its own color scheme. They also have a blue light to match the Halo 4 color scheme.
3) A standard edition of Halo 4
4) A wireless headset
The console will include a 320GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi and Xbox Live tokens for a Halo 4 in-game avatar and other downloadable content.

We all saw this coming anyway, but it’s confirmed now and will cost $399.99. It will be released Nov. 6.

With the release of a new Nintendo console, the first-party titles usually have the edge. The internal teams have known about the system for a while and enjoy longer development times. The result are a high quality releases that generally overshadow their third-party counterparts.

I’d expect the same scenario for the Wii U launch, but it looks like Platinum Games and Ubisoft Montpelier have grasped the potential of the Wii U Gamepad and created compelling core games for it. I played two of them recently. Here are my quick thoughts:

Just one a day after Steven Tyler announced his departure from the “American Idol” judging panel, Jennifer Lopez confirmed that she, too, will be leaving prime time’s most popular reality series.

Lopez called Ryan Seacrest’s morning radio show on Friday to break the news. “I really was dreading this phone call with you,” she told him. “I honestly feel like the time has come that I have to get back to doing the other things that I do that I’ve put kind of on hold because I love ‘Idol’ so much.”

That leaves just Randy Jackson remaining on the “Idol” panel and there are reports that he may assume a different role with the show when it returns next January for its 12th season. Meanwhile, rumors continue to swirl that Mariah Carey could be coming on as a judge.

In a phone interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Lopez had said she was saddened to hear that Tyler was leaving and that his departure would play a role in her decision. “I can’t even imagine anyone else there right now because I’ve just spent two years sitting next to him,” she said. “I love Steven, and we became close during that time. We were a great support for each other, on an adventure that neither one of us knew what it was going to be. So it’s hard to hear that he won’t be doing it.”

In the overall scheme of things, the loss of Lopez is the biggest blow to an aging show that experienced a significant ratings drop-off this past season. In her two years on “Idol,” Lopez established herself as the heart and soul of the judging panel. Like Paula Abdul before her, she was the nurturing cheerleader type who coddled the contestants and called them “baby.” But unlike Paula, she could deliver detailed, insightful critiques and bring an edge when she needed to. Tyler, meanwhile, often came across as detached and/or bored — especially in his second season.

Ironically, both Tyler and Lopez are leaving the show to focus more on their music careers, which were reinvigorated by the publicity they gained by being on “Idol.” Considering all the J Lo-centric commercials that aired during “Idol,” it sometime seemed that she mainly took the gig to shill her wares.

“Idol,” which once ruled the prime-time ratings with judges that did not have high profiles when it launched, now finds itself in a crowded genre at a time when big-name judges are the trend. “The Voice” boasts recent chart-toppers and award winners (Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Blake Shelton), while “The X Factor” recently make a big splash with the hiring of Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. And “America’s Got Talent” generated headlines by landing Howared Stern. To keep pace, “Idol” apparently needs at least one big name and Mariah could be it. Former contestant Adam Lambert also has been rumored as a possibility.

But while, a big name might bring some buzz, producers would be wise to focus on judges who can bring the wit, honesty and conciseness that has been missing from the “Idol” panel since Simon Cowell left to launch “The X Factor.” Too often this past season, the “Idol” panel sounded like an echo chamber that constantly reverberated with sugarcoated platitudes.